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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7375751" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I think that each of the published 5E adventure books could use more instances of some form of DM reference tools. Each has had advice of varying degree for DMs, but none has gotten it 100% right. However, I think that the best thing they can do is tell everyone you don't need to know the books inside out to run the adventures. And you can and should change things to suit your game. Tomb of Annihilation in particular has numerous NPCs with all kinds of motivations. Merchant Princes, Guides, Factions in Chult, schisms within organizations.....there are tons of them. You do not need to use them all in order to run Tomb of Annihilation. I think the intention is to throw many hooks out there, and have a DM pick those that appeal to him or what he thinks will appeal to his players. I personally think this is the best approach they can take. I do agree that perhaps it could be stated more clearly, or they could do more to help DMs. Storm King's flow chart is a great tool. Tomb's Dramatis Peronsae list is another example. I think if each of the books took about 4 to 5 pages to just have DM reference pages like that, then they'd all be improved. Having said that, I don't really see 5E as being all that unique in this aspect. Every edition of D&D has its fair share of challenges when it comes to formatting or complexity of rules and mechanics or simply in how information is presented. I don't think that the large adventure books of 5E are the worst example of a challenge for DMs compared to many of the past examples. They're simply the new challenge. But I also think that the amount of community support in this regard is at an all time high. DMs who are finding the adventures challenging have more resources at their disposal. Whether it's Sean McGovern's guides as mentioned in the articles (which are great), or more general DMing advice like that offered by Matt Colville on his youtube videos, or advice straight from the designers via twitch or twitter or any other media. DMing is not as hard as we tend to make it on ourselves. You don't need to know everything in the book. If you forget that Shago has been placed in Fort Belaurian at his mother's behest in order to spy on the Flaming Fist, but that he's actually come to side with the Flaming Fist, it really doesn't matter. He can simply be a guide that the PCs can hire or not. If on the other hand you think your players might find the struggle between the native Merchant Princes and the outsider Flaming Fist as each struggles for power in Chult to be of interest, then you'll likely find Shago's allegiance important. I think the more information they pack into these adventures, the better. I think we just have to remember that we can play it however we like, or however it shakes out at the table. There is no need to commit it all to memory or to use every shred of detail offered by the designers.</blockquote>

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